The Repopulation Interviews: The Games of 2013: The Repopulation

There are a massive amount of games coming out in 2013, more than we could include in all of our "Lists" of what we're personally looking forward to this year. But that doesn't mean we're not going to shine the light on each game that's due to hit in the next twelve months. With that in mind, we reached out to every developer releasing an MMO in 2013, to answer a few questions and let us know what the year has in store for each of them. As we receive the answers, we're shining the spotlight on each game. Today it’s all about The Repopulation. We caught up with Joshua Halls to see what 2013 has in store for this ambitious Sci-Fi sandbox.

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MMORPG: What does 2013 have in store for your game?

Josh Halls: 2013 will be a very important year for us as we enter Private Beta in the Spring and look forward to an end of the year launch timeframe. As we continue to ramp up to these important milestones, our focus is shifting to getting information out about game features. A lot of hard work has gone into getting to this point and we are excited for 2013 and what it will bring.

MMORPG: How do you think your game will stand out from the crowd of this year's releases?

Josh Halls: Our major design focus is that we are building a sandbox-hybrid environment for players to enjoy. The game includes many elements players enjoyed in classic sandbox oriented games such as Ultima Online and Star Wars Galaxies, while offering themepark elements found in modern games such as Guild Wars 2 and World of Warcraft. We take a lot of the PvE related functionality that you are used to and then generate content based on the experience and skill of the player, making content driven by player reactions in the game. We firmly believe in the sandbox style of gameplay where players are given many options of play styles and choices as to how they want to interact with the world. Instead of being tied to the level grind we offer no levels and over 60 skills ranging from combat, entertainment/RP, exploration, crafting, and resource gathering. Also, you are not required to partake in the combat aspects of the game to enjoy the extensive crafting experience we have to offer.

One of the major features that sets us apart is nation building. The Repopulation lets players create their own nations and build their own cities within the game world. They have control over how and where to build the cities and can work together with other players to build alliances or wage war over cities and resources. We have an alliance system that can adjust the faction of players based on the alliances that are chosen by nation rulers. We also have housing that can be setup in both the persistent shared world or in shared instances that are more easily (and cheaply) available. Housing will allow players to build out their housing units with freeform placement compared to most modular designs that are available right now.

Our focus is primarily to allow players to play the game how they see fit. We want to let players have a real and tangible impact on the game world from nation building, decisions that adjust NPCs' reactions with other players, dynamically generated content based on player population and choices that can take on a life of its own and spread through the world. Finally we want to offer a game world that gives players a variety of choices that doesn't involve a gear grind once they reach a certain point.

MMORPG: What's the number one thing you want our readers to know about your game going into launch?

Josh Halls: We are a team that has been consistently listening and working with our fan base to create both a game that we envision and taking ideas and experiences they have had with other games to help enhance and build a better game as a result. At the heart of the team we are a bunch of fans of many types of MMOs and gaming in general and want to build something that we would enjoy playing in our free time as well. This is an important part of our culture and something we plan on continue with as things continue to grow in 2013. As we move into Beta and eventually release this is something we feel is important to continue.

We feel this culture is vital to releasing a solid game that will offer more than the common boom and bust cycle prevalent in today's MMOs. We want to keep the game interesting and keep players engaged and logging in. Unlike many of today's MMOs where servers start to empty when the hype disappears. We want to build a game that will have legs and continue to grow and expand beyond even the details and systems we have envisioned. Building a solid team with the right culture is a solid start on this and bringing in the player base to help provide solid and constructive feedback is a major part of that. Heres to hoping we see you during our beta phase and to holding your interest for years to come.

William Murphy / Bill is the Managing Editor of MMORPG.com, RTSGuru.com, and lover of all things gaming. He's been playing and writing about MMOs and geekery since 2002. Be sure to follow him on Twitter for all of his pointless rambling.